Hey all! Today on the blog we wanted to do a little product review of one of our newest pieces of furniture – our living room sofa! We bought this just before our little boy was born because while we liked our other sofa, it just wasn’t a great lounging sofa. We wanted to be able to fit mom, dad, baby, maybe a dog and/or cats, all very comfortably on our sofa. So we set off to find the perfect fit. Ultimately we decided on the Haven Sofa by West Elm. This is an honest review of that purchase.

Overview

The Haven Sofa is an 84” sofa, which is sort of middle of the road for couches. Generally you’ll see sofas in the 78”-92” range, so the Haven Sofa is a pretty standard size. This sofa was designed to lounge – “Its deep, comfy seat and low, padded arms give it an incredible sink-right-in quality that’s perfect for the whole family.” (westelm.com). The seat cushions are a foam core wrapped in down alternative, and back cushions are a down alternative and poly fiber blend. Cushions are reversible and covers unzip and are removable for cleaning. It’s made to order in the good ole US of A.

Price – 7 of 10

     The sofa is priced at $1499-1799, depending on the material and color you choose. While it’s definitely not the most expensive couch you can get, it certainly warrants consideration and isn’t a purchase you’d want to just “give it a try.” Sofas from West Elm aren’t cheap, and this was definitely more of a splurge item for us. All that said, the value for this sofa is pretty good, as I think it’s one of West Elms better lines.

     IMPORTANT: West Elm runs specials and sales very frequently, and I’ve seen this sofa on sale a number of times. In fact, at the moment I’m writing this, there is a 20% off sale that would apply to this couch, bringing the price down to $1199.20 – $1439.20. That’s a big savings! So if you can wait for a sale, that can help a lot.

Comfort – 8 of 10

     Comfort is in the eye of the lounger – but I will say that I find this couch VERY comfortable. It’s not so soft that it swallows you up, but it isn’t stiff in the least either. It’s a very nice balance as far as the softness goes. The only thing I sometimes notice is that the padding on the arms isn’t super comfortable, BUT we keep a bunch of pillows on our sofa, so this is no problem for us whatsoever. If you don’t have any extra pillows or anything, the cushioning on the arms would probably not suffice for lounging. But again, that’s an easy fix with some pillows, which you probably have on the sofa anyway. 

     The couch itself is a really deep couch – whether I want to lounge back with my feet up on the coffee table, or lay sideways the length of the couch, there is plenty of room to do either. It’s definitely deeper than other couches we tested out during our search process, but I really like that in a lounging couch.

Another note on dimensions – this couch is pretty low to the ground. It works great for us for it to be low, but it might not be exactly what you’re looking for. Again, nothing wrong with being low, just important to note along the way.

     The Performance Washed Canvas is also really comfortable. It isn’t rough or rigid like some canvas can be (I assume that the “performance washing” softens the material). It is a really comfortable and not stiff in the least. It’s a great material for a comfortable sofa.

Durability – 9 of 10

     We’ve had our Haven Sofa for almost a year now, and we are really happy with the durability! We rotate the cushions as needed to avoid sagging, and the material has taken everything we’ve thrown at it! We have a baby, a dog, and 2 cats, all of whom spend a good amount of time on this sofa, and the sofa still looks new! It’s a very sturdy construction, and we’ve been really happy with the durability. 

     As far as the durability of the performance washed canvas, again I’d say we are really pleased with it. We have everything coming into contact with it from animal claws to baby drool, and it seems to handle everything like a champ. No discoloration – just a comfortable, durable material.

Ease of Cleaning

     Like I mentioned above, the cushion covers are zip-up, which means you can remove them to clean if desired. This is a really nice feature, although we haven’t really needed to.

      The important part of keeping this sofa clean is to pre-treat it with some sort of fabric protector like Vectra. Vectra is what we used based on the recommendation from an upholsterer we work with in town, and it has worked great. The basic point is that as soon as you get your sofa, take a day to apply the fabric protector (you can’t sit on it for a certain amount of time). That will save you loads of headache in the long run!

      Because we treated the material with Vectra, any time we get a spill, we simply spot clean with Thieves Cleaner and it does the trick. I can’t recommend highly enough that you protect your sofa with Vectra or some sort of fabric protector. It has really made all the difference.

Summary

If you’re looking for a really comfortable and durable couch, I think that you would be really happy with the Haven Sofa. It definitely isn’t the fanciest couch, but it is sturdy, comfortable, stylish, and durable. I would HIGHLY recommend treating it with fabric protector to help keep it clean from stains or spills. I would also HIGHLY recommend going to West Elm and giving it a try before buying! This is one of their standard lines, and they almost always will have one in stock for you to sit on.


photos: West Elm


Extra Links

West Elm

Haven Sofa

Thieves Cleaner

Vectra


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